Oakville, ON – It took just one day to elapse after the NLL Free Agency period opened for Toronto Rock Owner, President and GM Jamie Dawick to make a big splash. Dawick announced today that the Rock have inked future NLL Hall of Famer, and unrestricted free agent, Dan Dawson to a two-year agreement.
The contract is pending league approval.
“Toronto is where I need to be, where I am meant to be,” said Dawson. “I was born and raised in GTA. It’s a huge part of my upbringing and who I am. I’ve been blessed to have had this game take me to many different cities in North America, but finally I get the opportunity to play in my hometown. This is home for me.”
While he’s carried the nickname ‘Dangerous’ throughout his 18-year NLL career, there wasn’t anything risky about signing the 37-year old, who is on the brink of sending his career statistics into the company of the super elite, to a two-year deal. Appearing in all 18 games last season with San Diego, the Oakville, ON native scored 29 goals, 59 assists and 88 points, leading the expansion Seals to the NLL playoffs.
The Rock have lost four forwards over the last two expansion drafts, and the addition of Dawson replenishes some of the offensive depth that exited, especially on the right side of the offence behind superstars Rob Hellyer and Tom Schreiber.
“After losing some important pieces through the recent expansion drafts, we are very fortunate to have the opportunity to sign a player with Dan’s resumé,” said Dawick. “We’ve gotten younger over the past few seasons, but we aren’t scared to add the right veteran. Dan takes care of himself and is a pro’s pro with a lot left in the tank. We are happy to bring Dan home and have him play out the final chapter of his Hall of Fame career here in Toronto.”
At the end of last season, Dawson sat second all-time in games played (287), fifth in goals (509) and third in assists (887). His bounce back 2018-19 season helped him climb another couple of rungs on the all-time points ladder, surpassing Rock legends Colin Doyle and Josh Sanderson in the process, as Dawson now sits third behind only John Tavares (1749) and John Grant Jr. (1446) with 1396 career points.
Dawson has pulled on the jersey of eight teams over his NLL career. Columbus, Arizona, Portland, Boston, Philadelphia, Rochester, Saskatchewan and San Diego have been the stops along the way before coming home to Toronto. He has three championship rings, two from his time with the Rochester Knighthawks (2013,2014) and one from his brief stint with the Saskatchewan Rush (2018). Dawson earned NLL MVP honours in 2009 with Boston and was named NLL Cup MVP in 2014.
“I’m really impressed with the Rock roster and what they’ve done the past couple seasons,” added Dawson. “I am excited to have the opportunity to play with two of the best righties in the game in Rob Hellyer and Tom Schreiber. Both players are very dynamic and make everyone around them better. I am looking forward to building some chemistry with Tom and Rob. I played a year under (Rock Head Coach) Matt Sawyer in Boston and I am just very excited about this opportunity.”
Dawick notes that he’s not done making moves this off-season and there’s more to come.
For more information on Toronto Rock Season Memberships, please contact a Toronto Rock account executive at 416-596-3075 or visit torontorock.com.
